Telephone set



C. A. KNORR TELEPHONE SET April 6, E948.

Filed Feb. 12, 1945 INVENTOR. cam/LAO ,4. mom

Patented Apr. 6, 1948 TELEPHONE SET Camillo A. Knorr, East Orange, N. J., assignor to Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application February 12, 1945, Serial No. 577,472

' 6 Claims. (01. 179-100) The present invention relates to telephone sets particularly for use in field telephones and the main object of the present invention is to provide a simple structure for receiving a hand set of a field telephone whereby upon setting the hand set on the structure a switch in the telephone circuit is operated.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide simple, easily operated means for catching predetermined parts of the structure in order to retain the switch in the position corresponding to the downed lever position even after removal of the hand set.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent in the following description, the invention will be clearly understood in connection with the enclosed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the structure;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the structure along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the lever 20 in a front elevational view in two positions, respectively, and

Fig. 3 is a side view of the same structure.

Referring now to the drawing the telephone set is mounted on a base I and comprises a cradle 2 for a hand set 3 (Fig. 2), a lever 4 which turns within the cradle 2 from an upper.to a downed position by the hand set 3 and returns to the upper position by spring suction and is attached to one end of a shaft 5, the other end of which actuates a switch fi of the telephone circuit (not shown), and a catching device 1, which retains the lever 4 in its downed position even after removal of the hand set 3.

The cradle 2, which preferably is made of sheet metal and. shaped by bending over several 5 a body of substantially U-cross section, comprises an elongated base strip IS the foremost end I! of which is bent downwards preferably for about 105, that is, slightly more than a right angle. Two wing parts I8 extend upwards from 10 both sides of the base strip I'I. One of the wings IB is extended backwards and then bent sidewards at 90 to form another short generally vertical part [9. The latter ends in a U-shaped part by bending the end of part IQ for 90 15 into one leg 2| which extends parallel to the Wings [8 and then by bending twice for 90 into the base 22 and the other leg 23, respectively. The legs 2| and 23 are equipped with holes 24 and 25, respectively, disposed in axial alignment, which are adapted to receive the shaft 5 as stated before. The base 22 of the U-shaped part '20 has also a hole 26 of smaller diameter adapted to receive a set-screw 21 and thereby to attach the lever 4 to the shaft 5. The shaft 5 is turnably mounted in a vertical Wall 28 extending from the base I and the end of the shaft extending from the other side of the wall 23 operates a. switch 6 of the telephone circuit.

Though any kind of proper switch for a telephone circuit can be used, the switch 6, as shown in the drawing, comprises a stationary plate 29 which plate supports a ring of insulating material by means of screw bolts 3! and spacing sleeves 32. The plate 29 is loosely mounted on 35 the shaft 5 and, therefore, remains in its poparts of the basic sheet metal to a body of substantially U-cross section, has a longitudinally shaped'base part 8 which extends vertically on both longitudinal sides to form two vertical parts 9. Both ends only of the vertical parts 9 on each side of the cradle 2 are extended to short horizontal parts It] providing a seat for the hand set 3, Which parts I0 end finally in vertically extending parts H, the upper ends I2 of which are slightly bent outwards. The spacing of-the vertically extending parts N (Fig. 3) is about equal the width of the hand set 3, thereby avoiding any lateral movement of the hand set 3, when set on the cradle 2. One of the vertically extending parts 9 is provided with a slot I3 which is adapted to provide open space for the entrance of the lever 4 into the cradle 2. The base part 8 of the cradle 2 is equipped with sition when the shaft 5 is turned. The plate 30 carries a plurality of contact members 33 which receive the ends of different wires of the telephone circuit. A number of lamellar contacts 34 fastened to a disc 35 of insulating material turnably connected with the shaft 5 connect different contact members 33 and thereby different wires of the telephone circuit in the respective positions of the shaft 5. The disc 35 is disposed inside the ring 30 and turns with the shaft in the plane of the ring 30. An arm 36 is also keyed to the shaft 5 and disposed between the plate 29 and the ring 36. This arm 36 receives one end of a spring 31 the other end of which is secured to one of the spacing sleeves 32. A small extension 38 is arranged on the plate 29 near its periphery extending into the path of the arm 35 and limiting the movement of the latter in one direction, whereas another small extension 38 is also arranged on the plate 3 29 limiting the movement of the arm 36 in the other direction. Thus, the spring 31 will force the shaft and thereby the lever 4 to remain in one position which is the upward position of the lever l. When the lever 4 is turned downwards due to the weight of the hand set 3, when set on the cradle 2, the shaft 5 will also turn against'pressure of the spring 3? thereby compressing still more the spring 31. Upon removal of the hand set 3 the lever A will turn upwards and shaft 5 will turn back to the previous position due to action of the spring 31, which posi tion is reached when the arm 36 abuts on the extension 38. The turning movement of the lever a is transferred to the shaft 5 by the setscrew 27 which presses against the flattened surface 39 of the shaft 5.

In order to keep the lever 4 in the downward position against pressure of the spring 31 without having the hand set 3 on the cradle 2 a special catch device I is provided. This catch device comprises an elongated base part 40 which is bent downwards for 99 to a vertically extending part ll on one end and bent upwards for 90 to a vertically extending part 42 on the other end. The uppermost end 43 of the upwards extending part 42 is bent over inwards for about 165. The base part 48 of the catch device l has two longitudinal slots Ml which receive the screw bolts l5 securing the cradle 2 to the base I. Furthermore, the base part it! of the catch device 1 rests upon the base part 8 of the cradle 2 and due to the slots 44 of the base part it! the catch device 1 can slide from an extreme position to the right, in which the lever l will be free to move upwards, to an extreme left position, in which the lever i will be held in its downed position (point dotted lines in Fig. 2) even when the hand set 3 is removed from the cradle 2.

The construction of the present invention shows a novel way of arranging a telephone set particularly for a field telephone and to operate a switch of the telephone circuit, when the hand set is removed from or set on the cradle, respectively; This is achieved according to the present invention by providing a lever within the cradle, which lever is turned down by the hand set upon setting it on the cradle. When the lever is turned down, the shaft, on which the lever is attached, will turn the same angle as the lever and operate the switch arranged on the other end of the shaft. Upon removal of the hand set the lever and the switch will return to their original positions due to pressure of the spring of the switch, unless the catch device has been moved previously to its extreme left position (Fig. 2) during the downed position of the lever, in which case the lever will be retained in the downed position by cooperation of the front ends of lever and catch device, and the switch in the corresponding contact position even after removal of the handset. The turned downed part of the front end of the lever serves three main purposes, namely, to limit the extreme downward movement of the lever, to push the catch device out of ope-ration when the lever is turned down, and to release the lever from its locked position.

As I have pointed out above, the details of the switch structure per se form no part of the present invention. Additionally, while it is advantageous to utilize the spring of a springoperated switch to simultaneously operate the cradle lever, if the switch itself has no spring, separate spring means may be provided.

in the said cradle, spring means normally urging said lever to an upward position, and a switch actuated by the turning of the said shaft, where by said lever is adapted to be moved downwardly and said switch actuated upon the placing of a hand set in said cradle.

2. In a set as set forth in claim 1, a catch device disposed on the base of and movable in longitudinal direction relative to said cradle in order to move from inoperative into operative position, said lever including means cooperating with said catch device when in operative position to retain the lever in its lower position despite removal of the hand set from said cradle.

3. A set as set forth in claim 1, in which said cradle member comprises a longitudinal main body of U-shaped cross section, the base of which is substantially horizontal and its sides extend substantially upwards, the four ends of said sides having sidewardly and then upwardly turned extensions forming a seat for said hand set, one of the sides of said U having a vertical slot adapted to allow free movement of said lever within said cradle.

4. A set as set forth in claim 1, in which said lever comprises a longitudinal main body of substantially U-shaped cross section and of smaller outer width than the inner width of said cradle, the front end of the lever being turned down, a catch device to retain said lever in its downed position despite removal of the hand set from the cradle member, said front end of said lever cooperating with a corresponding member of the catch device and the rear end of said body being formed to a connecting means with said shaft.

5. A set as set forth in claim 1, in which a catch device is disposed on the base of and movable in longitudinal. direction relative to said cradle member in order to move from inoperative into operative position, and said device comprises a flat strip, the front end of which is turned upwards and its rear end is turned downwards, the former to cooperate with the front end of said lever when said device is in operative position and the latter to limit the movement from operative into inoperative position of said device, the latter being adapted to cooperate with the front end of said lever in order to retain said lever in its lower position when the hand set is removed from said cradle.

6. In a telephone set, a cradle member, a support, a shaft rotatably mounted on said support, a lever attached to said shaft and turnable within the said cradIe Spring means normally urging said lever to an upward position, a switch actuated by the turning of the said shaft, a catch device to retain said lever in its downed position despite removal of the hand set from the said cradle member, the latter comprising a longitudinal main body of U-shaped cross section, the base of which being substantially horizontal and its sides extending substantially upwards, the four ends of said sides having sidewardly and then upwardly turned extensions forming a seat for said hand set, one of the sides 5 having a vertical slot adapted to allow free movement of said lever within said cradle, and said lever comprising a longitudinal main body of substantially U-shaped cross section and of smaller outer width than the inner Width of said 5 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,220,279 Reid Nov. 5, 1940 2,008,283 King July 16, 1933 2,326,591 White Aug. 10, 1943 1,959,572 Craig May 22, 1934 

